The Legend of the Beast
by Foamsatmouth
Summary: AU. The Teen Titans Cyborg, Starfire, Nightwing, and Raven stumbled upon a strange and savage green boy deep in the wilds of the Congo. What Raven doesn't know is that this boy might just be the answer to her loneliness...
1. The Legend of the Beast

_Moshi Moshi, mi amigos! Foamy is back with yet another oneshot! This one I had fun with, though I honestly considered making it a full, mulitchapter story directly based off of Tarzan._

 _Then I realized that I'd never get around to any other stories if I extended every oneshot like that lol._

 _Anyways, once again Raven might be a tad OOC in this one, but my reasoning behind it is exploring a "lonely" Raven rather than an "In-Love" Raven this time. I'm working with different aspects of the characters so that I have the experience I need to further my writing skills._

 _Au revoir~_

 ** _The Legend of the Beast:_**

 ** _Son Of Man_**

* * *

"Hot Spot calling Titans Central, come in."

A figured in black and blue dashed by her sight, racing to the main computer. Raven Roth, half-demon sorceress of the Titans superhero team, looked up from her book in mild curiosity. Her pale, almost gray, skin felt a tad chilly so she pulled her dark blue cloak about her tighter. Indigo eyes watched her team leader Nightwing, formerly known as Robin, accept the call.

Immediately, a younger African man popped up on screen. His name was Hot Spot and he too was a superhero, albeit one who was a literal embodiment of fire. The Titans team he was a part of, Titans South, consisted of himself, a man-beast hybrid known as Wildebeest, a newcomer named Sandstorm (who could manipulate sand), Kilowatt (an electrokinetic young man from a parallel dimension), and Pantha (a super strong and super durable female wrestler from Mexico and close friend of both Hotspot and Wildebeest).

It was clear that Hot Spot was panicking, seeing as he had reverted to his native language of Swahili. Nightwing couldn't understand a single word he was saying and had to shout to get himself noticed.

"Isaiah, calm down!"

It took a moment, but the fiery young man calmed himself. "I am sorry, Nightwing."

"It's alright, Hot Spot. Now tell me what happened." Nightwing stood back from the computer and waited. Raven snorted. Her team leader, while tall with dark hair, piercing blue eyes, and a handsome face, was more than a little obsessive about his job and took it _far_ too seriously at times. The last time Hot Spot had called, some months prior, it was because his dog was missing and he was quite upset.

"We're in Africa."

"Why?"

"The Titans chapter here had some sort of mission they couldn't complete and they asked us for help since Wildebeest and I know the country. We didn't know what we were signing up for but our teamwork has improved greatly since Sandstorm joined, so we thought we could handle it." The pyrokinetic shook his head. "This wasn't what we expected."

"What happened?"

"We got here and found that what they wanted us to do was go into the jungle and hunt down some sort of creature that's been attacking poachers and any other criminals that stray into its territory."

Raven finally spoke up. "Why would they want to get rid of it?"

"It's killing people."

Nightwing flinched. Killing was a big no-no in his book. "Alright, where do we come in?"

"Well…we found the creature. Or should I say, it found us." He visibly shuddered. "In the heart of the Congo is where it lairs. We were unprepared but it thankfully didn't kill anyone. Killowat and I are the only ones that didn't get injured, thanks to our powers. I failed, Nightwing. I let my team down and this creature is still out killing."

Nightwing stroked his chin in thought, remembering all the times his team had setbacks and had been defeated. The fights with Slade and Trigon came to mind, and those had happened two years ago. Raven caught his eye and nodded.

"Hot Spot, take your team and return home to heal. Titans Central will take over. Just send us the coordinates." He turned to Raven. "Gather the others."

Raven nodded once more and flew out of the room. It didn't take her long to rally her teammates Cyborg, a half human half machine man, and Starfire, a lightly orange skinned and fiery redheaded alien princess from another planet.

They met in OPS, where all missions were organized. Immediately upon entering, Starfire flew up to Nightwing and wrapped him in a kiss and hug. Raven paused in the doorway and looked away from the sight. Cyborg noticed and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey Raven, you okay?"

She shrugged his hand off and spoke quietly. "Of course, Cyborg. It was only two months of my life that he wasted. If things had gotten serious, I'd be upset. As it stands, I'm thankful it never went past a little bit of physical contact."

Cyborg peered at her, noting the lonely look in her eyes. He frowned at the girl next to him, for he considered her his little sister. When they had all met four years ago, she had been quiet and near emotionless, though her temper usually brought buildings down. Two years ago her demonic father, Trigon the Terrible, had possessed her and used her to bring his physical body into this world. He was defeated, of course, by the combined powers of the entire Titans group. The others had delayed him long enough for Robin (Nightwing) to rescue her from a hellish miniature dimension and bring her back to full strength, leading her to defeat her father in a battle that shook the world. Several months afterward Raven, who was learning to feel emotions without fear of her powers destroying things, and Robin, her rescuer and stalwart close friend, started a relationship, much to Starfire's chagrin. It had lasted two months and ended badly. The two teens had made peace, however, and the team was whole again.

Until Robin started seeing Starfire.

The distance between Raven and Robin/Starfire had lengthened over the years as a result. She was still quite civil with both of them, but it was painfully obvious to Cyborg that Raven was lonely and jealous of the way her estranged friends fawned over each other. She had changed over the years too and it was showing more and more lately.

"Look Raven…"

"I know, Victor. One day I'll find a guy that'll fall head over heels for me and I for him." Raven shrugged uncaringly. "I honestly don't see it happening, but you can be optimistic for both of us, I suppose."

Cyborg sighed and watched her approach the couple to reprimand them for public displays of affection while they were on duty. The couple broke apart, blushing furiously. Raven ignored their apologies and sat the table in silence.

Briefing never took long; Nightwing was too organized for that. Within ten minutes, everyone was up to speed on what had happened in Africa and were ready to go. They all made their way to the T-ship, a multipurpose submarine/jet/spaceship, and within another ten minutes left.

Thirty minutes after Hot Spot called was all it took for Titans Central to leap into action. They were the best and that's precisely why he had called them.

* * *

 _Hours later…_

Raven stretched as she looked around at the new scenery. She had never been to Africa before. They were in some small village she wasn't going to attempt to pronounce at the edge of a massive jungle. Somewhere in there was some sort of monster that frightened innocents and criminals alike. Some monster that had harmed her friends (though 'friends' might be a strong term for how she viewed them; 'associates' would be a bit closer) and she wasn't going to let it get away with that.

Surprisingly enough, it was Hot Spot who greeted them.

" _Karibuni_." He waved at them. "Welcome to the village."

"I thought I told you to return to your headquarters and see to your team?" Nightwing frowned as he looked for the remainder of Titans South.

"Do any of you speak Swahili or know the jungle?" Hot Spot snorted when no one answered. "I didn't think so. _I_ do, so I sent everyone back and stayed here to guide you. You'll need the firepower."

Raven rolled her eyes at the pun while Cyborg laughed. Starfire, who didn't get the joke, looked around confusedly as Nightwing groaned.

The team leader shook his head after a moment. "I won't turn away the help then. Lead on, Hot Spot."

"It will take some time to reach the territory of the beast on foot. Have you a quicker way to travel?"

Raven wordlessly created a large black disc out of her dark magic. Without a word, she stepped onto it and waited for the others to follow her. The villagers watched fearfully as the hero's zoomed off into the jungle.

* * *

 _Several more hours later…_

Raven set the disc and her companions down in a small clearing and turned to Hot Spot.

"Is this close enough? I'd need a break from carrying everyone." Her monotonous voice hid her fatigue very well, but Cyborg knew that keeping that construct intact for that long had tired her.

"Yes, we are only an hour or so from the beasts' territory." Hot Spot looked around nervously. "Though it has been said that it will pursue trespassers for miles beyond its territory."

Cyborg began to scan the surrounding area. "Thermals and motion sensors are going berserk here. Not sure if they'll be any help. Raven, it might be up to you to keep an eye out."

Raven silently nodded and closed her eyes to focus. "Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos."

A pulse of dark magic washed over the area and further outwards. Raven turned to the others after a moment. "I set up a one hundred yard radius around us that I can monitor. It's not much of a drain on my powers so I can keep it up for a while."

"Good work Raven." Nightwing nodded. "Let's go team."

It was quiet, hot, and humid in the jungle. Raven's eyes were constantly in motion, sweeping the area as her detection circle moved with them. It had never hurt to be too careful in a new environment. In front of her were Starfire and Nightwing, quietly chatting to one another about the various animals they saw as they walked. Raven snorted and looked past them to Hot Spot, who was getting jumpier the closer they got. She turned her head to the side and looked back at Cyborg. He was so out of place in this jungle that it was almost comical to see the way he was warily looking around.

Almost.

In the end, it didn't matter to Raven. It was just another day, another mission. When it was over, they would return to the tower and go about their business. And once again, she would be alone.

 _Alone._

The purple haired sorceress shook her head, unwilling to go down that lane of thought right now. Her problems could wait until the mission was over. She needed to focus and protect her friends right now. The next hour passed quietly. Raven saw all kinds of plants and wildlife she had never encountered before. Not that she cared. They were pretty, but that was it.

And then, without warning, they found a corpse. Three corpses, to be exact.

"These were not here yesterday." Hot Spot gulped.

"Poachers, from the look of the ivory on them." Nightwing shook his head. "I bet they didn't believe the stories of the beast and came to hunt it."

Starfire could only look at the bodies once before turning away. "Friend Cyborg, what sort of creature has claws like a Glyuian Snarfback? Those only live on the planet of Tribrii Nine in the Tul quadrant."

"I dunno Star, but it looks like these guys were ambushed bigtime." The half metal man crouched down and scanned the bodies. "Claw marks don't match up to anything within wildlife databases either. It's either a new animal…or something way worse."

Raven's detection circle suddenly pinged rapidly and her head snapped up as she shouted. "Something's coming! Back to back!"

Instantly the Titans got in formation and assumed combat stances. But the jungle was quiet, minus the sound of mosquitos in the air. Raven's senses were exploding with danger signs and Cyborgs sensors were going berserk even more. But still they saw nothing.

"I got a really bad feeling about this." Cyborg muttered.

"Raven, where is it?" Nightwing glanced at her.

"I can't tell. It's scattered all over the area. It's right here with us though." The half demon shook her head as she watched several green mosquitos fly by. She didn't know much about insects, but she had never seen or heard of that particular insect being that color. She spoke slowly after a moment.

"Hot Spot, why don't you tell us about this beast?"

The elemental man visibly flinched before speaking low and quiet. "It's huge and vicious, with huge claws and teeth, shaggy fur. Faster than a cheetah, stronger than a gorilla, cleverer than a fox."

"Real descriptive."

"Uh…it's also green."

"Green?"

"Yes, like jungle itself."

Raven eyeballed several more green mosquitos as they buzzed by. She focused for a moment and used her magic to flick one. It was the first mistake.

Without warning, a horde of mosquitos swarmed around the Titans, barely giving Raven time to erect a shield of magic. The insects attacked the shield over and over again, much to everyone's surprise. After a time it seemed the flying parasites realized they weren't breaking through it and they retreated into the surrounding trees. Raven cautiously let the shield down and the Titans spread out. That was the second mistake.

If the Titans hadn't of sensed the creature at the last second, it probably would have killed them. As one, they whirled around to face each other and instead found the beast.

If one took Hot Spots description into account, it would be a bit of an understatement. The beast was easily ten feet tall. It had arms half again as long as its legs, a broad torso, hunched shoulders, and a face that was an odd mixture of an ape, a feline, and a canine. Long fangs sprouted in a feral snarl and its white eyes held nothing but rage. Its green fur was knotty and full of sticks and leaves, giving the creature a truly savage look.

Its' challenging roar shook the area as the Titans scrambled away from its wild swings. Cyborg got caught on his back and was sent crashing in a thick tree with a metallic crunch. He staggered to his feet a moment later, shaking his head. Nightwing ran up a tree and backflipped off of a branch. As his flip arched over the creature, he whipped out a trio of discs and sent them hurling towards the beast. It rolled sideways and bounced up to tackle him in mid-air much faster than anyone was anticipating. Fortunately, Starfire was close enough to rip the beast off of him and throw it against a tree. _Unfortunately_ , it balled up in its own mid-flight, hit the tree feet first, and used the tree as a springboard to launch itself back at Starfire. She cried out as it hit her with enough force to shatter her elbow. She dropped to the ground, leaving Cyborg and Hot Spot to stand over here as Nightwing and Raven looked for an opening. The beast was unpredictable, to say the least.

A sudden roar and charge was all the warning Cyborg got before he was hit again. This time, however, he managed to keep his footing and lock hands with the creature. It roared in his face and pushed him backwards. His feet dug into the ground to no avail as the beast pushed harder. A blast of magic bowled the wild animal over, giving Cyborg a chance to catch his breath. But as he turned back to his opponent, he saw that it had a new target.

"Raven! Look out!" He shouted as it bound over his and the others heads straight towards the sorceress. It landed directly in front of her and roared.

Against her better judgement, Raven let the creature's rage affect her. Her eyes split into crimson shards of pure fury and she rose up into the air swathed in shadows, tendrils of her dark magic whirling around the monster in front of her. She roared out her own challenge, her voice crackling with demonic fury.

The beast paused, surprise evident on its face. It tilted its head and stared at her, its primitive mind trying to figure out the dark creature in front of it. Raven waited for it to begin attacking again, but it never came. Instead, it shuffled forward and began to sniff her.

"Uhhh…Raven?" Cyborg's arm had turned into his trademark sonic cannon and it was pointed at the beast. "I'm not sure what you did, but you need to move."

"Wait." She gestured for them to stand down as she let her own rage fade away. "Right now it's more curious than aggressive."

"I was unaware your empathic abilities work on creatures, friend Raven." Starfire gasped as she sat up and put her back to a tree.

"As was I." Raven's eyebrow raised as the beast circled her, still sniffing. It ducked its head under her cloak and pressed its cold nose against her back. Reflexively, she yelped and shied away from it. Its head still tilted, the beast gave a low and throaty growl that gave her the impression of confusion.

"Raven…" Nightwing sighed irritatedly, getting ready for one of his lectures about not sharing the full scope of her powers with the team.

A low and angry growl filled the air as the beast glared at him. Raven's eyes slid back and forth between Nightwing and the beast as she pondered the reasoning behind the growl. Nightwing snorted and pulled out his telescopic bo staff. A few twirls were all he got before the beast pounced on him, snapped the staff, and pinned him to the ground. It roared in his face.

"Nightwing, bare your throat!" Hot Spot shouted suddenly.

"What?!"

"Bare your throat! It's a sign of submission in the animal kingdom!"

"What the hell makes you think that-"

"Shut up and do it, Dick!" Raven and Cyborg shouted simultaneously. The capeless crusader huffed, but turned his head and barred his throat to the beast. It growled at him again before releasing him. As he got up, Hot Spot spoke up again.

"Now drop to a crouch and hold your hand out, palm up."

"What? Why?"

"It's how apes ask for forgiveness from the leader."

"I'm pretty sure you got that from a movie." Cyborg muttered to his elemental friend, who ignored him.

Nightwing complied begrudgingly. The beast was confused for a moment, but reached out and touched his hand anyways. After the black costumed hero stood, the beast began to stalk around the clearing to inspect the other intruders. It first when to Cyborg, the largest. It sniffed him over, pausing only to run a claw down his metal arm. The metal man was a curiosity to the wild animal, but nothing more. It moved to Starfire next, who shied away from it. The beast sniffed her regardless. After a moment, its nostrils flared and it turned its head towards Nightwing once more, a curious expression on its face.

"I think it knows you and Star are together." Cyborg crossed his arms as his cannon returned to its normal form.

"I would guess this too, if his scent lingers on her." Hot Spot nodded. But when his turn came next, he cowered in front of the towering animal. It could smell the fear and heat radiating off of him. It snorted at him contemptuously and walked back to Raven. It stalked around her, making some odd noises.

"Cyborg, what's it doing?" She asked, annoyed.

"Uhh…I think it's trying to talk to you."

Raven rolled her eyes. "I don't want to talk to it. Shoo, go away and stop killing people."

Something about the annoyed tone of her voice and her waving her hands at the beast caused it to pause. It let out a yowl and dashed off into the trees. Raven stared at the spot in surprise.

"I didn't expect that to work." She said after a moment. Cyborg chuckled.

"Friend Raven…"

Raven snapped out of her state of minor shock and made her way over to Starfire to heal her. It took about ten minutes, but the alien princess was right as rain at the end. After Raven extracted herself from Starfire's trademark back breaking hug she placed her back against a tree and slid down it to sit between the roots. She was exhausted now that the adrenaline wore off and her arm was hurting from healing her friend.

"Iight guys, we're camping here for the night." Cyborg looked at his team leader, who nodded. With a grin, the metallic man popped open a panel on his leg and pulled out a cube with a button. He pressed the button and tossed it onto the ground, where it began to transform into a small cabin.

"That's a terribly convenient piece of tech you have, Cyborg." Raven almost smiled. "Tell me there's a tea machine in there."

"Uhh…sorry Raven."

She sighed and gave him a slight smirk. "Oh well. We can use your arm instead."

"For the last time, I'm not a coffee maker!"

Chuckles sounded in the clearing as the Titans went into the cabin to rest.

* * *

Strange noises outside the cabin are what woke the Titans. They ventured out cautiously to find that the beast had returned. It was pacing outside the cabin, trying to figure out what the hell this strange thing was doing in its territory.

Raven sighed. "I'm going to have to go out there and deal with it, aren't I?"

"Well…you _are_ the one that calmed it down to begin with." Nightwing sighed too. He didn't like the idea any more than she did, truthfully speaking. Raven sighed again and walked out to the creature. When it saw her, it stopped pacing immediately.

"And what are you doing back here? I thought I told you to go away?" She looked up at the creature tiredly. The beast leaned down and looked her face to face for a moment before darting away into the bushes. She had just enough time to raise an eyebrow before it returned carrying several somethings, which it laid at her feet.

Raven looked down, trying to see in the dark. After a moment, she gave up and turned back to the cabin. "Cyborg, I need some light."

Light filled the area after a moment, blinding the beast. It whimpered and backed away, leaving Raven alone with a dead leopard, a dead crocodile, and a large dead rock python. The half demoness stared at the bodies for a moment then looked to the beast, which gingerly approached and nudged the leopard towards her.

"Hot Spot…" Raven said quietly, "Why did it…"

The African man paused in thought for a moment. "I'm going to say it either thinks you wanted food or it's trying to impress you."

"Trying to impress me?" Raven pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to stay calm. "You have got to be kidding."

"Raven, why don't you link minds with it for a few minutes and tell it we just want it to stop killing people? Then we'll leave in the morning."

 _Typical Nightwing_ , Raven thought bitterly as she said. "Alright."

She stepped over the dead animals and approached the beast. It tilted its head in confusion, seeing how the female in front of him ignored his offerings. Instead, she walked right up to him and reached her arms out towards his head.

Cautiously the beast leaned down and let her hands take his face. Raven inhaled and exhaled slowly, her eyes glowing. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

The others watched as she stiffened suddenly. A small gasp escaped her lips, which made them slowly approach.

"Raven?" Cyborg got closer than the others did, fearing for his little sister.

"He's human." She said almost breathlessly. The other Titan's eyes popped open and jaws dropped as she kept talking. "This beast is actually a _human._ He's…a shapeshifter…an animal shape shifter. This form is pretty much the apex predator of all the animals in him combined."

She paused. "It's hard to shift through his thoughts, they're wild and scattered, completely unfocused on anything but surviving and protecting his home. He's been in this jungle for a long time…I'm seeing full seasons…ten, no eleven sets…I'm guessing he's been here for eleven years…alone… _completely alone_ …"

"Friend Raven, it is possible for you to return him to the form in which he originated?"

"I'm trying, Starfire, but he doesn't remember or even know what he would look like." Raven face became strained after several more minutes. "I've got something! I might be able to change him. Stay back!"

The sound of bones crackling and popping filled the air as the beasts skin rippled. It began to shrink rapidly, its form becoming more and more humanoid by the second. Within five heartbeats, he stood before them. Raven opened her eyes and could only look at him in awe.

He was easily a head taller than her, a bit over six feet tall at least. His face was a strange combination of boyish and rugged, his wild green eyes staring out at her behind his wild mane of shaggy green hair. His skin was only a shade lighter than his eyes and two shades lighter than his hair. Her eyes traveled down his heavily muscled torso, which was riddled with scars like his arms, and then…

Raven suddenly turned around, a full blush on her face. Cyborg raised his eyebrow and she looked away as she stuttered. "H-he's not wearing any pants."

Cyborg stepped around her and glanced at the green guy in front of him before shaking his head. "Boy, you need to put that thing away."

The green boy, who couldn't be any older than seventeen, tilted his head and blinked. He made a strange noise, a sort of growl, as he realized he wasn't a large animal anymore. His confusion increased as he looked at his body, wondering where his claws and fur were. He reached out and tugged Raven's cape, making another strange noise as if demanding an answer as to what she had done to him.

Raven shook her head. "I'm not looking at you until you put some pants on."

* * *

Getting this strange young man some pants wasn't hard. Getting him _into_ the pants was another story. In the end, Nightwing and Hot Spot had to take him into the cabin and repeat the process of putting their own pants on and off until he mimicked them perfectly. Except that the pants were on backwards, making them do it again until he got it right.

When they exited the cabin, Raven glanced up from the book she was reading and almost immediately had to look away. The pants were _way_ too tight on him, leaving little to the imagination. The green boy saw her and headed her way, much to the others wary amusement. She watched him from the corner of her eye, noting the strange way he walked. It was almost a lope, but a shuffle at the same time as he alternated walking like the others (she guessed he was mimicking them) and bounding around on the knuckles of his hands. It was ape-like but at the same time it had a predatory feel to it, like the muscles in his legs were that of a large cat or wolf. It was actually unpredictable, when she fully paid attention to him. He shifted between his movements fluidly, each step (whether human or bestial) perfectly maintained with the previous and next one.

He approached her cautiously, waiting for her to react. At this point he had dropped down to his haunches and used the knuckles on his hands to balance himself in a very apelike way. When she looked at him from behind her book, he sat back on his haunches and made an odd yipping noise as he tilted his head. This continued for several minutes as he went from noise to noise, ending in a very monkey-like chatter.

"I have no idea what you're saying." She said as she put her book down. His head tilted the other way and he gently took the book from her. He sniffed it and held it up, letting it fall open. His eyes opened wide as his free hand waved through the pages, feeling a strange new texture on his hands (paper). His curiosity got the better of him and he opened his mouth.

Raven saw what was about to happen to her book, so she snatched it from him, leaving him to bite himself hard on the finger. He released the digit and looked at it bleed before looking up at her in confusion.

"Not food!" She growled at him. He lowered his head and licked his finger, apparently aware that he had offended her. Raven rolled her eyes and held her hand out. "Give me your hand."

He looked at her hand and back at her several times before he slid his hand into hers. Raven chanted briefly as her warm blue healing magic encompassed his hand. After it was done his eyes opened really wide as he looked at his finger. More strange yipping sounds, along with a yowl of some sort.

Raven could feel a headache starting to form, so she called Cyborg over. "Why don't you teach him how to talk?"

"I dunno Raven, he seems attached to you." The metal man teased. Ravens' eye twitched and a nearby bush exploded. The green boy jumped between the poor bush and Raven, a deep growl resonating from him. Cyborg couldn't stop himself from cracking up.

* * *

The next three days were spent trying to teach the jungle boy to talk, with 'trying' being the keyword. But unless Raven was involved, or at least nearby, he just wouldn't pay attention. At this moment, Cyborg was using a flat wall on the cabin to show the boy images projected from his eye.

"Flower." He said, waving his hand at the image of a rose, " _Flower_."

The boy barked something unintelligible, making Cyborg throw his hands up in the air and stomp off complaining again. The boy followed him all the way to Raven, who was sitting comfortably between the roots of a tree.

"Raven." Cyborg crossed his arms. "I'm pretty sure yer little buddy here doesn't like the idea of learning how to talk. I've been trying to get him to say _flower_ for an hour and all he does is yap at me like a puppy! I know he ain't stupid, he mimics damn near everything we do. How can we be sure he can even talk?"

"We can't. All we can do is try." She said monotonously, marking the page in her book. "Nightwing said we're leaving tomorrow anyways, so we'll take him with us and keep trying to educate him."

" _We?_ I haven't seen you teach him anything!"

"Then you haven't paid attention." Raven turned her eyes towards the green boy. "Come here."

He shuffled out from behind Cyborg and crouched two feet from Raven. She gave him a small smirk as she patted next to her. "Sit."

With a small woof, he sat down next to her. He glanced at her legs crossed in front of her and mimicked it, leaving him sitting Indian style.

"Good boy." Raven pat his head. His eyes lit up and Cyborg started shaking his head.

"Girl, that's so wrong on so many levels."

Raven shrugged and opened her book again.

* * *

That evening, Raven made two decisions. First, she was going to cut his hair. Second, they were going to name him. She made Nightwing and Hot Spot drag him to a nearby stream to wash his hair (which the boys would later say was _far_ more trouble than it was worth). Upon their return, the sorceress made him sit near the fire they made to dry his hair faster. He was very curious about the fire at first, until it burned him. They barely managed to stop him from beating it to ashes with a tree.

Yes, a whole tree. He ripped it right out of the ground like it was a turnip.

After that little fiasco, Raven requisitioned a knife from the bodies of the dead poachers (which she made Cyborg go find). She had never cut anyone else's hair before but didn't think he would mind if she made a mess of it. It's not like he could talk anyways.

His hair ended up about four inches long all around and he shook his head many times as he tried to adjust to the new weight. He made himself dizzy and fell back into Raven's lap. Raven set the knife to the side and looked down into those big green eyes of his, quietly wondering who he would have been if he wasn't left in the jungle.

"Alright, time to name him." Nightwing pulled out a list he had made. "I say we name him Jerry."

"What? Like that show host?" Cyborg shook his head. "No way dude."

"Friend Cyborg, what do you think of the name Snorfakerful?" Starfire had her own list, which she was smiling at.

"Uh, Starfire, I'm not sure if _I_ can pronounce that." Nightwing shook his head this time, which led to a large debate that Raven didn't participate in. As it winded down, they all decided to just go down the alphabet naming names until one that fit him really stuck. Thirty minutes into it, something happened.

"…Gunther, Gerry, Gunner, Gray, Grey, Geraldo…" Cyborg listed off on his fingers.

Nightwing took over. "Gil, Gideon, Guy, Griffin, Gareth, Garth…"

Raven, who had been absentmindedly petting the boys' head (he was _purring_ , for crying out loud!), felt his ears twitch. He opened a lazy eye and looked at the others across the fire. Raven's brow furrowed for a moment as she realized he reacted to something that sounded slightly appealing.

"What about Garfield?" She asked after thinking of names that started with 'Gar'.

His head snapped up and he looked right at her, his attention fully hers. She looked down at him in surprise. The others stopped talking. He meowed at her.

"Garfield?" She asked him directly this time. He let out a soft growl and started purring louder, nuzzling her hand.

The others stared at her, each silently disappointed that their names weren't chosen. Minutes later, Nighwing pulled out his wallet and handed Cyborg a twenty dollar bill. Raven raised her eyebrow.

"I bet that you'd be the one that chose the right name." He said smugly as Nightwing scowled.

Raven just rolled her eyes and went back to petting Garfield as the others threw their lists in the fire.

* * *

The journey on the T-ship probably would have been uneventful if the Titans didn't discover at the last minute that their new friend was terrified of the vehicle they rode in. As such, he spent the entire trip in the form of a little green mouse hiding on the back of her neck under her hair. Originally he had scrambled all over her in that form only to wind up crawling under her leotard and settling between her breasts. His honest terror of the vehicle overrode her anger towards him just this one time, so she pulled him out and set him where he was now.

Cyborg had spent the entire ordeal laughing his ass off in another part of the ship.

When they _finally_ reached Titan tower, they were greeted by Titans South, who thanked them profusely for taking the mission over. Their gratitude, however, was transformed into sheer terror when they were informed the beast had returned with Titans Central. Raven almost laughed when they got into battle formation. Instead, she reached behind her head and extracted a small green mouse from her hair, where it was still cowering. The other Titans couldn't believe the story she told them at all, so she gently coaxed Garfield into resuming his natural shape.

 _That_ certainly made them believe.

The following days were spent attempting to educate Garfield and leaving him in the tower when they had to go out in the city. His education was going decently, though he still hadn't said a word. He managed to pick up basic sign language and could communicate with them to an extent, like when he was hungry or wanted to sleep. Raven had come to the conclusion that returning him to his natural form had released him from the haze of being a less sentient creature. The others, after a debate, agreed. There were things he picked up quickly while others…not so much.

Toiletry came to mind.

Two weeks after bringing Garfield into their 'family', Raven found herself thinking of him rather often. He was rather sweet, in his strange and animalistic sort of way. He tended to follow her around like a puppy, sometimes interacting with her; other times he gave her the impression of just wanting to be around her. It was both annoying and endearing. She and the others were trying harder than ever to teach him to speak but still he made those animal noises. Cyborg came to the conclusion that his vocal cords simply didn't work the way they should. It actually disappointed Raven (not that she showed it) that she wouldn't be able to have a real conversation with this strangely affectionate boy. She really wanted to know why he was so attached to her, the cold hearted half demon sorceress that kept everyone at arm's length.

 _I suppose I'll never know._ She thought bitterly as she watched him press random buttons on the main computer. Cyborg stood next to him and named off things that popped up on the screen.

Cyborg, on the other hand, had become aware of something else recently. Raven was opening up to the strange green boy beside him. Several times, he had caught them just lounging around the common room, with her petting his head as he purred in her lap as she read. Cyborg's cuddling jokes never went over well with Raven, who usually tossed him from the room with her magic. Other times, he had been privy to full length one sided conversations that she had with Garfield. He wasn't sure how much Garfield understood but the look in his eyes showed that he was paying rapt attention to the violet haired girl in front of him.

He had a sneaking suspicion that Raven was falling for the boy and that the boy would return it tenfold. It only made the metal man more adamant about educating the shapeshifter as fast as he could. After all, Raven dearly wanted a companion, whether she would admit it or not, and Garfield was most certainly wanting her attention all the time. It was almost like the boy could tell that just being there for her was all he really needed to do. There was also something odd about the way he listened to everyone talk, almost like he was paying far more attention than he let on.

A tugging on his arm brought him from his musings. Garfield was pointing avidly at something on the screen and signing _Want_.

Cyborg raised his sole eyebrow. "Why do you want that?"

 _Want. Get? Please?_

His curiosity peaked, Cyborg looked up the nearest location to get the item. Nowhere even remotely close. He scratched his chin in thought for a moment before an idea hit him.

"Hold on, let me call a friend." He grinned.

The sound of a trumpet caught Raven's attention. The Herald stepped out of his dimensional portal to engage in a quiet conversation with Cyborg. She watched the nodding of heads and Garfield's leap for joy. Herald smiled at him and opened another portal with his horn.

"We'll be back in a bit, Raven. Call me if there's trouble." Cyborg grinned and shoved a bouncing Garfield through the portal. Raven nodded and went back to reading, squashing the rising feeling of loneliness inside her with a tide of words.

* * *

Some hours later, a trumpet sounded again. Raven, Nightwing, and Starfire looked up from the sandwiches they were eating to see the Herald, Cyborg, and Garfield step through. They were slightly dirty but had triumphant smiles on their faces.

"Where did you guys run off to?" Nightwing sipped his coffee to hide his irritation.

A sly smirk found its way onto Cyborg's face. "Garfield here wanted something, so we went and got it."

"Friend Garfield, what did you wish to acquire that we could not assist you with?" Starfire floated towards her friends, but the shapeshifter darted past her towards Raven.

She recoiled a little bit when he suddenly stopped in front of her. His hands were behind his back and his eyes were lit up like a kid in a candy store.

"Hello Garfield. Did you have fun?" She asked slowly, wondering what he was up to. She knew that Cyborg had been teaching him pranks and was wary about what he would do. He nodded eagerly and did something she never expected from anyone.

He gave her a flower.

Not just any flower though, but a _purple lotus_.

Her mouth ran dry as she looked down into the rich purple petals. It was settled in a dark blue pot, with the water and mud from its natural environment. This rare and precious flower, recognized worldwide for its mystical inclinations and value to Buddhists, was now sitting in _her_ hands. She looked up at him, unable to speak. His face was scrunched up and he appeared to be struggling with something, a vein bulging on his forehead.

"Raven…pretty…like flower."

All sound in the room disappeared and Raven was absolutely certain reality stopped as he kept talking.

"Raven…smart…pretty…kind….good to Gar…field. Me…no, I…want…" He was struggling with every word but he wouldn't stop despite the obvious pain from speaking in an unfamiliar way.

He paused as he stood up straight, his emerald eyes staring at her as he towered over the small sorceress. His posture was one of absolute seriousness and his breathing was steady, the scars on his body almost shining with resolution. He looked down into her eyes and her heart fluttered like it did a long time ago for a dark hearted and masked boy. Only this time, it was a _much_ stronger flutter. One that was leaving her a bit breathless and dizzy in the head.

He was quiet for another moment before speaking once more, clearly this time. "I want to be Raven's mate."

She fainted.

* * *

 ** _A/N: I honestly pondered to myself on whether or not this ending was too abrupt, then realized it was feasible via a 'shock' factor. If enough people like this, I may just very well do a legitimate version of it.  
_**


	2. The Legend of the Beast (Cont)

_**Surprise! I bet nobody expected me to make another chapter of this lol. I sure as heck didn't!**_

 _ **Still, I had a lot of fun with this spur-of-the-moment idea I had. It was a much needed break from the stress of working on my two main stories too. I know, I said I'd post a counterpart of this story based on Raven having not joined the Titans, but that story has been a bigger pain in my ass to write than I thought. It's not that it's difficult, it's that I'm picky lol.**_

 _ **I'll take this moment to address the aged reviews I've gotten for the first chapter.**_

 _ **JP-Ryder- That's an interesting thought. I might get an emulator for that game so that I can be familiar with the concept before I jump into it.**_

 _ **Detrametal- Thank you, I had a lot of fun with it. More often than not you see "Beauty and the Beast" versions of BBRae, so I decided to throw a monkey wrench into the cogs of storywriting :D Hopefully you'll like this secondary chapter!**_

 _ **Zaacna- A second chapter, you say? Hm...i think I can swing that!**_

 _ **RPGPersona- Beast Boy really is more badass than people give him credit for. I intend to one day to exploit the full extent of his abilities. It might just happen in this storyline too.**_

 _ **Guest(s)- Wish granted! *takes cookies and noms***_

 _ **Exskena- Thank you! I don't think you're a shit reviewer lol, just those four words makes me feel better about writing :D**_

 _ **Mochafraptor- Thankee sai**_

 _ **Taygon55- Welp, me buckoo, here's another chapter for ya!**_

 _ **Also, I wanna go ahead and state that I might have stretched the extent of Beast Boy's powers in a BS direction. But hey, it's my story. :P**_

 _ **And with that, my dear readers, I bid thee adieu. Welcome to the next chapter of...**_

 ** _The Legend of the_ _Beast:_  
**

 ** _Two Worlds_**

* * *

Man, it had been one LONG day for the Titans. First thing in the morning they had to deal with the Hive Five, which consisted of the super strong and durable man Mammoth, the tech-savy dwarf Gizmo, the dumber-than-a-box-of-rocks multiplying man Billy Numerous, the witch Jinx, silent shadow-jumper Kyd Wykkyd, the laser-firing cyclops Seemore, and the militaristic Private H.I.V.E.

Yeah, that's seven people. Nobody said they were smart.

Regardless of their inability to count, four vs seven was never an easy thing, despite the fact that Private H.I.V.E. and Jinx regularly left the Hive Five to do their own thing rather often. Having all of them there at once always made things difficult, so the Titans had to call in reinforcements.

Namely Kid Flash and the Herald, who could get there the fastest.

It had been quite a hectic brawl. Kid Flash had dealt with Billy Numerous and his dozens of copies, Cyborg had exchanged his arsenal with that of Gizmo, Starfire brawled with Mammoth, The Herald scrapped with Seemore, and Nightwing had gone toe to toe with Private H.I.V.E. Jinx, as per her usual routine, had run off with the loot. It had left Raven to deal with the elusive Kyd Wykkyd, which was a headache in and of itself. It's not that he was a particularly difficult foe, for his only attacking ability was using razor sharp claws.

It was more like that it was difficult to hit the damned teleporter.

Still, they had triumphed in the end and then bid their friends farewell. The trip to the jail with the villains had been uneventful, as had filling out the paperwork. The only curious thing to have happened was the chief of police asking about the strange green boy seen on the shores of the tower recently.

Cyborg had immediately made a joke about him being Raven's boyfriend, to which the empath had blushed deeply. The whole situation with him still left her reeling whenever she thought about it. The chief's response, however, caught everyone off guard.

"Well, that's sweet. It's about time you found someone Miss Raven." He had chuckled. "Everyone needs someone who cares. I hope I get to meet this young man before long."

The uncharacteristic blush still on her face, she had nodded tersely at the man before teleporting herself and Cyborg back to his car. It wasn't that flying home would have been a bother to her; she just liked being able to sit and think without having to dodge birds or buildings while going home.

Unfortunately her quiet reverie had been interrupted when they almost ran over Doctor Light, who had just robbed a bank. The ensuing light vs darkness and sonic energy battle had blasted a donut shop and a three tier car lot to pieces before they had managed to subdue the old man. Battling Doctor Light had never really taken long, but it seems that he had finally upgraded his suit this time. It was formidable, to say the least.

Just not formidable enough.

It was well past lunch when the empath and cybernetic man had met back up with Nightwing and Starfire, who had run into Johnny Rancid on the other side of town. He had led them on quite a run around town before Starfire had managed to blast his bike from under him. With the normal patrol over (and no signs of any other villains wanting to annoy the already irate young adults), Nightwing called for the team to head home. Raven was grateful. She really needed a cup of tea and some meditation.

Of course, _he_ was there, waiting for her to return home. The thought made her heart speed up.

In the month that had passed since his impromptu proposal to her, Garfield had grown more as a person and became less of an animal. Though his speaking skills were still a bit lacking (on the worst days he reminded her of Starfire when she first arrived on Earth), he was just as attentive to her as ever. He even went as far as to learn how to make her tea (the first few tries were _horrid_ but she drank them anyways).

Truth be told, she _still_ hadn't given him an answer to his question. She didn't know if she could. This was all so new to her, so overwhelming that she kept putting it out of her mind whenever she could. Which wasn't very often, due to one teensy tiny little fact…

Her attention starved heart absolutely _refused_ to shut him out.

She kept telling herself that she didn't know enough about him to accept such a thing, though her emotions were quick to remind her that there _wasn't enough_ to him to think that. The boy had lived in a _damned jungle since he was six_ , after all. He was practically from different world. And he didn't know much about the _outside_ world other than what they taught him. He knew how to survive as an animal and animals were different than humans in many ways, mostly in ways of expressing emotions.

Of course, this animalistic way of life was both the source of her nervousness and excitement as she and the others made their way into the Tower proper from the garage. It was a quiet trip due to everyone's tired state. Despite this, they all made their way to the same place, the one no one would expect them to go to right after such a rigorous morning.

The training room.

Raven stood nervously before the door. Behind her, Cyborg snickered as Nightwing rolled his eyes with a grin. Starfire had a sly smile on her face as well. The empath could sense their amusement of her situation very clearly, just like she could sense the anticipation on the other side of the door. Steeling herself, she hit the switch and opened the door.

Immediately, a boyish green face greeted her, albeit upside down. He was hanging from a bar above the inside of the door, one of his favorite perches in the gym. The training room had become Garfields' favorite room very quickly after he had discovered the various acrobatic bars and ropes scattered about the room a couple of weeks ago. He had literally pounced on them enthusiastically.

It very quickly became evident that Nightwing was far outclassed in agility by the green boy.

Garfield was flexible in ways that would make yoga practitioners madly jealous, having once used the bottom of his foot to scratch the top of his head (without bending over) while he nibbled on an itchy spot on his elbow. It had physically hurt the Titans see how casually he did that and for a week Nightwing had secretly tried to touch the bottom of his foot to his head the same way.

He had shown remarkable talent in other places in the gym as well. The only other Titan who could run as long as him was Cyborg, though that was only thanks to his cybernetic parts. Garfield quite clearly outclassed anyone at running speed (having topped out at 112 mph, a dizzying number to anyone that wasn't Kid Flash or the Guatemalan speedster twins Más y Menos) thanks to his powers. Even when he ran normally, he could keep up a forty mile sprint for over an hour before he got winded. In physical strength, he tied second with Cyborg (Starfire's alien strength being top tier), which was bizarre considering Cyborg was technologically enhanced whereas Garfield only had muscular strength. A bit of studying and questioning had led them to discover that the green boy had been secretly learning about different animals via the main room computer while they were out on missions. Currently, he could lift 65 tons simply by "pretending to be a rhino beetle instead of being one".

An utterly ridiculous concept until they witnessed it.

The downside was that he wasn't physically conditioned to do such a thing, so it wore him out rather quickly. Roughly estimating, he could probably lift the full 65 tons once every five days. More often than that and the strain on his body would injure him.

Speaking of injuries, he had a remarkable healing ability, which they credited to the reptilian and amphibious animals inside of him. Finding out about said power had been quite a situation though.

To put it simply, he had stuck his hand into the garbage disposal.

 _Why_ he had done that no one had figured out, but _when_ it had happened the whole damned tower knew. The first thing they had heard was a roar of pain, followed by a louder, angrier roar of rage. Scattered about the Tower, it took the Titans several minutes to reach their new friend. They found him, transformed into that gargantuan Beast, one-handedly ripping apart the kitchen while cradling his mangled hand to his chest. It had taken Raven twenty minutes to calm him down. When she had successfully done so, she tried to heal his hand.

Only for the Titans to watch as his bones regrow, his muscles reform, and his flesh to knit itself back together before their very eyes.

Not noticing their surprise, Garfield had growled at the remains of the kitchen. When Raven asked him _why_ he was growling, he had responded with only three words.

"It bit me."

Back in the present, Raven was currently looking the green shapeshifting boy in the eye as she stood in the doorway. She trembled minutely, though only Garfield could see it. He knew what she wanted to hear, so he smiled warmly at her and spoke quietly.

"Hello Raven. Welcome home."

One of several things that she had come to thoroughly enjoy when they came back to the tower was this very greeting. A simple greeting, yes, but it was for _her_ and _her alone_. He was happy to see _her_. He was happy to have _her_ home. That warm and affectionate look he gave her when he said it was for _her_ and _only her_.

The first time he had done it she had almost broken down in tears right then and there.

"Hello Garfield. I'm glad to be home." She said softly in return, her eyes lighting up and a smile creeping on her face. He smiled back at her so happily that her heart threatened to burst. By Azar, having someone that was happy to see her made her heart hurt with so much joy that it should be illegal to be so happy.

He sniffed. "Long fights today, I see. Raven smells good."

"I smell like sweat." She rolled her eyes.

Garfield's smile turned mischievous. "That's what I said."

The first time he had replied with that, she hadn't understood. But by the third time he had said it, realization dawned on her.

 _He found the scent of her sweaty body to be attractive._

The thought made her blush each time. It was a ridiculous concept, really, to find the smell of sweat attractive. But when you take into consideration the various uses scent has in the animal kingdom and combine it with a certain boy that's attracted to a certain girl…

Well, you get the idea.

"Raven is red faced again. You sure you are not sick?" Garfield asked, leaning his head forward to touch his forehead to hers. "Need thermo meter?"

To the empath, touching foreheads in such a way was a rather intimate gesture. Her chakra stone on her forehead was the conduit for her empathic abilities and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy pouring his affection through the stone into her soul.

The first time he had done it she had felt _absolutely high_ on life for over an hour. She had been ridiculously bubbly and floated around the tower giggling at every little thing that crossed her path, including a very bewildered Cyborg.

When she came down off of it, she wondered if telling him about the stone had been a smart idea.

"I-I'm fine, Gar. Really." She stuttered. By Azar, she felt like such a silly schoolgirl around him sometimes.

He smiled before leaning further down and rubbing noses with her. "Okay. I believe you."

She had come to find out that _this_ particular gesture was the animal kingdom version of kissing. The first time he had done it was rather shyly and had startled her. When she had discovered the meaning behind the action, it had left her deeply confused as to whether or not she should return it.

But that was _then_. In the _now_ , she shyly rubbed noses with him just a little bit, her soft smile still present. "Thank you. How was your morning?"

Again with that smile. "Boring without you."

 _Sweet Azar, does his flirting ever stop?_ She wondered to herself as she replied, "But half the time we don't do anything but sit around and do nothing."

"So? It's still time with you."

 _Nope_. She thought was she rubbed noses with him again.

"Okay, ya'll need to stop with the sweet stuff. You're giving me diabetes!" Cyborg joked. The empath froze, having forgotten about the others. Garfield seemed to sense her embarrassment and poked his head around hers to look at the cybernetic man.

"Cy! Spar?" He asked with an innocent grin on his face.

The metal man visibly faltered. "Uh, no thanks buddy. I'm good for today."

The other Titans, Raven included, smirked at his hesitation. The last time Garfield had sparred with Cyborg, the green boy had literally thrown the black man across the bay like a skipping stone. At twenty two bounces, Garfield now held the record to skipping 'rocks'. Cyborg, on the other hand, had smelt like fish for a week from his impact with a fishing barge's full net.

Needless to say, Cyborg didn't spar often with Garfield.

"What doing to day?" Garfield asked, turning his attention back to Raven.

"It's ' _What are we doing today?'_." She corrected him gently. He just smiled at her, making her roll her eyes. She knew he did it on purpose most of the time, though when he got excited it was completely accident for him to shift to speaking like that until he calmed down.

"To answer your question, we have guests coming today. Friends." Nightwing answered. Garfield poked his head back around Ravens', intentionally brushing his cheek against hers. Without thinking, the empath nuzzled her cheek against his.

Smile widening, the boy spoke to the team leader. "New friends for me?"

"They sure are, buddy." Cyborg smiled. "They're cool people."

"Coooooool." Garfield repeated. Raven couldn't help but roll her eyes again. Some words he found fascinating, like 'cool' and 'dude'.

Starfire smiled. "Friend Garfield, I am sure you will be most pleased by them. Our friend Aqualad is very friendly with animals."

Still grinning, Garfield flipped down off of his perch and landed in front of Raven. Immediately she noticed that he was shirtless. She wasn't entirely sure if it was because he still wasn't too comfortable in clothes or if it was because Raven had an issue keeping her eyes off of him when he was without a top. As Cyborg once put it, Garfield was 'Strutting his stuff like a peacock'.

She gulped as she looked up his muscular torso until she met his vibrant emerald eyes.

"Raven get ready to meet friends?" The green boy asked, a knowing grin on his face. Yes, he was quite aware that she was attracted to him.

She pointedly looked away. "Yes. I'm going to shower, wait in the living room."

Her mention of showering brought both a pout to his face and a mischievous look to his eye. Raven hadn't told the others, but he had once snuck into the bathroom after her to find out what a 'shower' was. Raven had been so utterly shocked at his tenacity that she had stood there like a deer caught in headlights. His hungry eyes had swept up her nude and soaked body slowly as if savoring every morsel of her petite figure. So great was her shock that she didn't react until he stepped into the shower with her.

When she had demanded to know what he was doing, he had smiled seductively at her and simply said, "Showering with Raven."

She promptly threw him out of the room.

Thankfully, he hadn't tried it again.

* * *

Back in the present Garfield left Raven to her own devices, all the while muttering to himself about her losing such a good scent. The other Titans also scattered to their own showers. The empath shuddered to herself as she teleported to her room while she thought about what Garfield had been implying.

It's not that what he said bothered her. In fact, it made her feel really good about herself. She had watched guys fawn over Starfire for years, so this constant attention to her own body was invigorating. While the shapeshifter had never directly said anything, she could feel his desire for her whenever the mood struck him.

She gathered a fresh uniform and cloak, along with her bath supplies, and headed to the shower. It was an uneventful trip and shower (minus a rather brief desire to see Garfield shirtless with water running down his body).

As she stepped out of the shower, however, she could help but pausing in front of the mirror. She turned this way and that, inspecting her body. How Garfield found her shortness, her purple mousy hair, and her slightly chubby and grey skinned body attractive was beyond her, but she wasn't going to complain.

Within minutes, she had deposited her dirty uniform into her hamper and made her way to the common room, which served the dual purpose of living room and kitchen, as well as a gaming room for the boys. Cyborg had been enthusiastically trying to teach Garfield how to play games, but the boy always lost interest when Raven appeared.

Such was the case at this moment.

"Raven!"

She couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm in which he always said her name. "I wasn't gone long Garfield, you don't have to sound so excited."

His head tilted to the side like a puppy's. "Why wouldn't I be excited to see you?"

"Why would you be?" She countered, patting his head.

He beamed. "Because you're Raven."

Beside the shapeshifter, Cyborg groaned. "Five minutes. That's all I'm asking. _Five minutes_ without you two flirting each other to death!"

Raven's eyebrow rose. "Cyborg, aren't you the one who told me just a few weeks ago that I'd find a guy to make me happy?"

"Yeah well…" The metal man grumbled.

"Shush already." She snapped at him, though not harshly. She could tell he was ecstatic about her finally having someone who cared about her, just like she could tell that all the love in the air was making him queasy.

That was fine though.

"Raven…"

The empath turned back to her…whatever he is. "Hm?"

His head was reclined backwards from his sitting position on the couch, leaving him looking up at her. He smiled. "I dunno, I just like saying your name. It's pretty."

She almost kissed him for that.

But instead, she settled for teasing him in her own way. Moving closer, she placed her stomach against the top of his head, making him look up her abdomen and past her breasts to meet her eyes with his as she slightly leaned over him.

"Is that so?" She asked softly, a look in her eyes that made the shapeshifter start fidgeting. His eyes swept up and down her body repeatedly.

"Yes." He growled softly after a moment. A small smile on her face, she moved back slightly and leaned down to rub noses with him. Despite his elation with her gesture, he couldn't keep his eyes off her chest as it shook in front of him. He gave another low growl, almost a purr.

Smile growing wider, Raven pulled away from him and went to the kitchen for a cup of tea. It only took her a few minutes to make, but in that time Garfield really _had_ started purring. She couldn't keep from chuckling at his reaction to her actions.

Now, the things that just happened are things that Raven would not normally do. _However_ , this isn't a normal situation. Despite the fact that Garfield was becoming more civilized, he was still very animalistic. Animals, like humans, communicate through a variety of mannerisms. Scent, touch, and sound all played part in their survival.

But none so much as body language.

Despite the fact that Raven was an all-powerful half demon sorceress, she still had issues communicating. Expressing her emotions had been forbidden while growing up, so speaking of the things she was learning to feel after defeating her father had be rather difficult. There was a point in time where expressing little bit of unhappiness made the nearest electronics explode, not to mention showing some sadness would cause nearby metal to warp and bend into itself.

Let's not forget that when she and Robin (Nightwing) had broken up that her sorrow and anger had _disintegrated_ half the tower.

But the thing about Garfield was that she didn't have to actually _say_ anything. She could use body language to denote her approval or disapproval of the things he did or said. This, coupled with her scent (which, according to the shapeshifter, changed with her moods and emotions), let her have nearly wordless conversations with the boy in a way that let her express things without expressing too much.

In short, she had just told him that she approved of his sweet words and appreciated them greatly, to which his response had been an expressed desire to please her more (the purring).

"Cyborg." She called from the kitchen. "When are Titans East coming over?"

He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Actually, they should be here in a few minutes."

Raven's shoulders sagged. "Are you serious? I don't get a heads up when this stuff happens anymore, do I?"

"Heads up." The metal man called from the couch. "The Titans East will be here soon."

Raven rolled her eyes and Cyborg chuckled. Garfield cocked his head to the side.

"New friends here soon?" He asked.

"They sure will be, buddy." Cyborg nodded, then cast a wry grin over his shoulder at the empath. "Including Raven's _friends_ Aqualad and Speedy."

Raven made a disgusted noise. "Bleh! I can't stand being around those two half the time. Those stupid gigolos are always…"

She trailed off as she locked eyes with a curious Garfield. Cyborg turned his head and glanced between the two of them.

"Something bad is going to happen today, I just know it." He muttered to himself as he turned back to the game he was playing.

"Garfield…" Raven said quietly with a smile. "You just don't know how happy I am to have you here."

The shapeshifter's face lit up with joy. "Gar did something good?"

Moments later, Raven approached the couch and sat down rather close to Garfield. As he looked at her curiously once more, she fidgeted. Sitting like this wouldn't be enough to ward off the two guys that shamelessly flirted with her. She bit her lip in thought before taking Gar's arm and wrapping it around her shoulders.

Despite the fact that this made him really happy, Garfield couldn't help but ask her a question. "Raven, what doing?"

"I'm…" She trailed off, not entirely sure how to explain to him that she wanted to show that she wasn't interested in Aqualad or Speedy whatsoever. She thought about this for several minutes before stumbling upon an idea. "I'm letting other males know that I'm not seeking another mate."

Gar immediately moved in close to her face, his eyes almost shining. "Does that mean you're Gar's mate?"

"I-I didn't say that!" She stammered. "I just don't want them to think that I'm looking for one when I've got a good one right here wanting my attention."

"So you _do_ want to be Gar's mate."

 _Shit, I walked right into that._ She mentally scolded herself. Licking her lips nervously, she gave him a slight shake of her head. "Gar…I told you I need time to think about that. It's a very serious thing to…be a life mate."

Grinning like a fool, he rubbed noses with her. "I know. I was teasing you."

Her mouth opened for a moment, then clicked shut. She had walked right into that one too and had no response to it. She sighed and shook her head. "I swear, I think you enjoy teasing me too much."

Ever so gently, he lifted her head to look him in the eye and he smiled warmly at her once more. "You know why that is."

 _I wish he'd stop making me blush so much, I feel like a Christmas tree._ She thought as her face lit up while rubbing noses with him. This time, however, her lips barely brushed his and they both froze. She looked deep into his eyes and knew that he was about to kiss her for real. She leaned forward and…

Cyborg started making retching sounds on the other side of Garfield.

An annoyed look crossed the faces of the interrupted couple and Raven glared at her brother figure.

"You know, Victor, I could kill you right now and not feel bad about it."

"Sorry, couldn't help it." Cyborg chuckled weakly. "But I figured you'd like to know that the others are here."

Raven closed her eyes and concentrated. He was right, there were coming down the staircase at this very moment. A movement at her side drew her attention back to Garfield.

The shapeshifter had apparently had an idea. He wrapped his hands around her waist and scooted her forward a bit, then lay down on his side behind her. Stretching one arm out against the arm of the couch, he pulled Raven sideways to where her back was against said arm. His right arm was under her now, firmly supporting her back. His left arm stretched out and under her legs to lift them up onto the couch, where he tucked his own legs under hers comfortably. After a little bit of wiggling, he settled his head onto her stomach just below her breasts and laid his left arm across her thighs. In his current position, his waist was pressed to the side her left thigh and his chest was against the left side of her abdomen.

A _very_ intimate position, which was why Raven's face was the same color as Starfire's hair right now.

Inside her head, Raven was repeating a new mantra.

 _DON'T BLOW ANYTHING UP DON'T BLOW ANYTHING UP DON'T BLOW ANYTHING UP SWEET AZAR I CAN FEEL IT PRESSED AGAINST ME DON'T BLOW ANYTHING UP DON'T BLOW ANYTHING UP DON'T_

"Raven?" Gar called softly.

"Y-yes?" She squeaked out.

"Is this good enough?"

She nodded furiously. "Definitely."

* * *

"Iight Wing, where's this new guy y'all told me about?" Bumblebee asked. The young black woman looked about the common room, seeing only Cyborg and Raven on the couch. Starfire was off to the side being pestered by the twins Más y Menos while Speedy and Aqualad were just entering the room.

"Oh, I'm sure he's in here somewhere." The capeless crusader snickered. "Why don't you go ask _Raven_?"

"If she'll give me a better answer, then I suppose I will." Bumblebee huffed. She started making her way over to the empath. "Hey Raven…"

"Hello Karen. Welcome back."

The insectile heroine paused. Raven _never_ greeted anyone with words, let alone greeted them so politely. Thinking something strange was up, the black and yellow dressed girl made her way over to the couch a little quicker. She was looking at Cyborg when she got there, who was so wrapped up in his game that he hadn't noticed.

"Hello to you too Victor." Karen rolled her eyes then turned to the violet haired girl. "So Raven, I heard that…"

She trailed off, unable to believe what she was seeing. Raven, who had grabbed a book several minutes before, glanced up at her friend. "Heard what?"

Bumblebee didn't answer, she just stared. Raven shrugged and went back to her book. Within moments, however, the black girl turned away.

"Richard!" She called out. "What the hell is going on?"

Aqualad pulled his head out of the fridge where he was looking for a bottle of water. Speedy, who was eating an apple, got off the stool he was on and made his way over to his team leader. Nightwing just smiled.

"Dunno what you're talking about, B."

Speedy heard Cyborg snicker as he approached. He glanced at the cybernetic man before peeking over the couch at Raven.

He too stared with open mouthed shock.

A minute later, he called out to his friend. "Garth, you are _not_ going to believe this."

Despite Nightwings' increasing amount of chuckling, the blue and black clad Atlantean made his way to the couch and peeked over. His black eyes widened. "You have got to be shitting me."

Right there in front of their eyes was Raven, reclined rather comfortably in the arms of a _green_ boy with his arms wrapped around her almost protectively. His head was on her stomach and his legs were tucked up under hers, propping her up as she read. Said empath glanced up at them over the top of her book.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"Don't _what_ me, Raven!" Aqualad shouted. "Who the _hell_ is this?! And why the _hell_ is he…sitting like that?!"

At this point the green boy lazily opened one emerald eye and looked up at them. "Hello."

Making sputtering noises, Aqualad pointed at Garfield. "What the heck do you think you're doing with _my_ girl?!"

"Excuse me?" Raven glared at him. "I have _never_ been your girl, you arrogant gigolo."

"Only because you don't know what's good for you!" He shouted. "I asked you out dozens of times and you always turned me down without hesitation! Heck, you turned down Speedy too, for no freaking reason!"

"That's because I'm not some starry eyed bimbo like you two dolts chase around." She snorted. " _I_ have a brain and it says you two _aren't even_ _remotely_ relationship material."

"Oh, but some freaking green skinned goblin from the jungle is?!" Aqualad spat. "Triton's beard, I knew you were desperate, but I didn't know it was _that_ bad!"

At this particular moment, Garfield disappeared. It startled everyone except Raven, who immediately realized something bad was about to happen. She sat up just in time for the shapeshifter to reappear, seated on the back of the couch in front of Aqualad. There was a jolly smile on his face.

A smile that immediately disappeared as his hand snapped out and wrapped around Aqualads' throat.

"I don't like the way you are talking to Raven." He growled. "And it sounds like you are challenging my rights to court her."

"Rights to court her? What are you, some kind of half-wit savage?" The Atlantean spat.

His grip tightening, Garfield pulled the blue suited male in closer as his growl deepened. "No… _I'm an animal…and you smell like dinner."_

A horrified look on his face, Aqualad brought his right fist up and smashed it into the side of Garfields' head. The shapeshifters head snapped to the side from the force of the blow, but he didn't falter or lose his grip on the oceanic being. His neck popping, Garfield turned back to look him in the eye.

"Challenge accepted." He growled once more before flinging the Atlanean through the nearest window. Before any else could react, he leapt out the window after his falling foe. Everyone stared at the broken window for a moment before Bumblebee spoke up.

"Uh…what just happened?"

Shaken from her stupor, Raven leapt up from the couch and ran to the window. "Shit shit shit shit shit, I should have known Garth would get pissed instead of taking a hint and leaving me alone!"

"Raven, what's going on?" Bumblebee flew over beside the empath and looked out at the brawl on the rocks below. "Aside from Aqualad getting his ass kicked, I mean."

Raven turned to the dark skinned girl. "Garfield has lived in the Congo jungle by himself for since he was six. He lived as an _animal_ , which means he _territorial_."

"And what exactly is his territory here?"

Raven paused, a blush forming on her face. "U-uh, w-well….He…he wants me to be his mate. So when Garth started talking like I was supposed to be his…"

Behind them, Speedy facepalmed. "Damnit Raven, I always thought you might be a freak but _this_ is crazy!"

"Oh, shut up Roy!" Raven spat. "You better be glad it wasn't _you_ that provoked him, at least Garth has super strength and endurance to back himself up."

And with that, Raven flew out of the tower, followed by Starfire and Bumblebee. Cyborg got up and jogged to the door, Speedy and Nightwing right on his heels. The twins were nowhere in sight, which means they already went down to the shore. There was a mad dash to the elevator, followed by a rather apprehensive ride down to the ground floor.

During said ride Cyborg had a thought, which he voiced aloud.

"Ya know, how come all the girls can fly but we can't?"

* * *

Down below, Garth was holding his own fairly well against Garfield. They traded blows relentlessly, sending each other reeling or smashing into rocks frequently. They were pretty evenly matched in physical strength.

But then Aqualad leapt back onto a large rock and called forth a towering wall of water.

The Atlantean smiled darkly. "Let's see how well you can swim, goblin."

A wide, fang filled smile spread across Garfields' face as the waves came crashing down on him.

As the waters began to recede, Aqualad came down from his rock. He dropped down into the knee-deep ocean water and looked around. His opponent was nowhere to be seen. He didn't know what kind of powers the boy had either, though judging from his skin color maybe he had powers like Batman's foe Poison Ivy.

He discovered how terribly wrong he was when a _massive_ crocodile burst out of the water and wrapped its jaws around him seconds later.

Cursing to himself, the Atlantean struggled to pry open the croc's mouth. He had very little experience with these reptiles, but he knew the crushing power of their jaws was lethal. He took the sides of the mouth in each hand and pulled with all his superhuman might.

The green crocodile/boy began to thrash his head back and forth, jarring Aqualad's grip on his jaws. With a flick of his head, Garfield tossed his foe from his maw and disappeared into the water.

Aqualad staggered upright, thanking his god that he had been released from that monstrous squeeze. Any more and he would be a few ribs shy of a barbeque. He looked around the water warily, now knowing his foe was a skin-changer. As disturbing as it sounded, being in the water was a terrible idea right now. Any Atlantean knows the dangers of the depths and if this boy could turn into any animal on this planet…

He took several retreating steps backwards before the water around him exploded into a flurry of motion. Something inhumanly strong wrapped around his body, pinning his arms to his sides and squeezing the breath from his lungs. Gasping, Aqualad looked down at the dark green and black coils that rendered him immobile. There was a hissing noise and it made him realize he was the creature he was entangled by was a great serpent.

As the pressure from the coils increased tenfold, Garth slowly looked up into the now gaping maw of the snakes' mouth and realized this green boy was about to eat him alive.

"Great Poseidon, I don't want to die like this." He whimpered as his consciousness began to fade from lack of oxygen.

"Garfield, stop!" A voice rang out.

The snake paused and looked towards the voice speaking. Aqualad, barely coherent, could only just understand what was being said.

"Garfield, don't kill him. He might be an asshole, but he's still somewhat a friend." Raven called out. "Put him down, Gar. He's a packmate, just a stupid one."

Slowly, the shapeshifter returned to his human form. The sounds of his flesh splitting and reknitting itself back together accompanied the sounds of grating bones and restringing sinew as his body assumed its natural state. The newcomers almost vomited at the grotesque sounds, but the core Titans were unphased by it.

Gar now stood there, his hand wrapped around Aqualads' throat, and stared at Raven in confusion.

"But Raven, he challenged me for courting rights to you. He lost. It's my right to kill him."

She knew there was no malice or ill intent in his words, so she spoke to him calmly as she approached him. "I know he challenged you, Gar, and I thank you for being so protective of me. But we're not in the jungle. We don't kill our opponents after defeating them in battle."

His eyes widened in shock. "You don't?! Is that why you must fight so often? I thought the packleader had so much territory that other packs wanted some and kept challenging him for it!"

She nodded and spoke carefully. "That is kind of what happens. But we don't kill and they don't usually kill either. We do it because we respect _all_ life, even those of our opponents."

"But…" Garfield shook his head. "If you kill them, they can't challenge your pack anymore. You wouldn't have to fight until a new pack trespassed."

" _That_ is one of the reasons why we don't kill, Gar. We can beat those packs without killing them and they still stick around. With so many packs and loners here, it makes other packs not want to come here."

Raven could see the wheels turning in the shapeshifters mind. He spoke slowly. "That…does make sense. Deal with and keep the weaker packs around so that the stronger ones don't try to come and move in. If a pack stronger than yours appeared, the weaker ones could merge to fight them too. And no pack wants to have two fights at once."

She smiled gently. "I knew you would understand."

He nodded before gesturing to his fallen foe. "Yes, I understand. But why am I to not kill him?"

"Because even though you beat him, he is _still your packmate_." She reminded him gently.

His brow furrowed. "He is not my packmate. Cy, Star, and you are. Nightwing is packleader."

Raven shook her head. "Gar, Nightwing has _more_ packs under his command. The girl in yellow flying behind me is a packleader _under_ our packleader."

The shapeshifter's eyes widened. "Really? How many packmates do we have?"

"There are several more packs like ours. We are Titans Central, the girl in yellow leads the pack Titans East, the guy with the noisemaker (The Herald) leads the pack Titans West, the fire guy that is afraid of you leads Titans South, and a man from a foreign land leads Titans North." Raven was face to face (relatively speaking, considering the height difference) with Garfield now and she reached out and gently began to pry his fingers from Aqualads' throat as she kept talking. "We have several more packmates that travel the world helping people as loners, though they will come when we call. We are all one big pack, Gar, and this guy here has been my packmate for years. Please don't kill him."

Garfield stared at her long and hard before looking down at the Atlantean in his grasp. "You have been defeated, water-caller. Do not take it upon yourself to challenge my courting of Raven again and you will _not_ attempt to court her again. She has spurned your advances and I will not let you disrespect her more than you already have. I will not repeat myself. Understand?"

Aqualad nodded, so the shapeshifter released him. He dropped to his hands and knees before looking up at Raven.

"Your boyfriend scares me." He gasped before passing out.


	3. The Legend of the Beast 3

_**Guess who's back? Foamy's back, tell a friend! *music in the background***_

 _ ***stops and looks at readers before easing over to the boombox and cutting it off* Oh...ahem...Welcome back! I got another chapter of this story out sooner than I thought I would. I figure there 'might' be two more chapters of this left in me. I haven't decided, but I will admit that I enjoyed the hell out of writing this. Now for my lovely reviewers!**_

 _ **Toto01- Wait no more my friend! Enjoy!**_

 _ **Artemis Raven Courtney- Aint it tho? lol. Ngl, his reaction to Aqualad's BS mimics my own.**_

 _ **Detrametal- I'm happy you liked it! I hope you like this one too, especially since I'm of the line of thinking that a certain reaction is unique amongst the various fanfic on the site :D**_

 _ **RPGPersona- Wish granted, my friend! It's not what I would call lengthy, but the volume of characters I added makes up for it (I hope)**_

 _ **Mind - Thank you, I hope you like this one too!**_

 _ **ForThereWillComeSoftRains- Thanks dude, I'm glad you liked it! Enjoy this one as well! (It's full of fluffy goodness!)**_

 _ **Sparity101- I like to think so lol. Here's to hopin' you like this chapter too!**_

 _ **Mochafraptor- Thankee kindly friend. Enjoy this one while yer at it!**_

 _ **Slayershero3- Thank you for your words, my friend. Here's another chapter (hopefully as enjoyable as the tofu bacon smothered in bbq sauce lol)**_

 _ **Tsubaki87- OMG dude, i am sooooo sorry! That's gotta suck! But at least I cheered you up :D Enjoy this chapter too!**_

 _ **Taygon55- Thanks lol. As for his past, when I get around to finishing my plotline for the next chapter it'll be all about his past (and his current relationship with Raven). And yes, I sidestepped Terra.**_

 _ **Why?**_

 _ **Because fuck that bitch. That's why.**_

 _ **And with that, I bid thee adieu. Read and Review please! And welcome to the next chapter of...**_

 _ **The Legend of the Beast:**_

 _ **One Family**_

* * *

"Raven...are you…are you pouting?"

"No." Came the sullen reply.

"Oh my god…you're actually pouting…"

"I am not!" The empath snapped.

"Jesus Christ, Raven, he's only on the roof with Cyborg!" Nightwing shook his head.

"So what?" Raven huffed. "He can do as he likes, he doesn't have to be around me all the time."

The capeless crusaders' eyebrow rose. "Oh really?"

"Yes!" She snapped again before going back to the book she was reading.

"Okay okay, you aren't pouting." Nightwing threw up his hands in defeat before a grin snuck on his face. "But tell me one thing…"

Raven glared up at him. "And what would that be?"

"Why have you been reading your book upside down for the past hour?"

She looked down at said book and scowled. "You obviously distracted me so much that I turned it upside down."

Her team leader snorted amusedly as he walked away. Raven huffed and turned her book rightside up and tried to get back to reading.

But try as she might, she couldn't do it. It was all Garfield's fault that she couldn't focus.

Yeah, that had to be it.

The more she thought about it the more she was certain that was the truth. After all, they had become even closer ever since his little spat with Aqualad few weeks ago. She had never considered herself the type of girl that needed to be defended like that, but it was actually kind of thrilling to watch him beat the arrogant Atlantean into a pulp. And the fact that he had stood up for her not because she wanted or needed him to but because _he_ wanted to had not been lost upon the empath.

Unable to concentrate, she set the book to the side with a sigh. Garfield was on the roof with Cyborg, helping him test the new rocket boots her older brother had been so determined to make for himself. He had said that he had finally gotten tired of not being able to fly like the girls or even glide like Nightwing could from a tall building.

Unfortunately, Cyborg weighed A LOT more than everyone else.

That means finding the right power placement, the right amount of thrust, and the right weight displacement was his top priority in becoming more mobile on the battlefield.

"Crap crap crap crap crap crap CRAAAAAAAAAA-"

Raven glanced at the window just in time to see Cyborg sputtering around outside it before he dropped out sight like a twelve ton brick. A huge green shape followed only seconds after and Raven smiled.

At her suggestion, Cyborg had begun to teach the shapeshifter about dinosaurs, mostly the tyrannosaurus rex, the pterodactyl, and the ankylosaurus; attack, mobility/flight, and defense. He had done remarkably well the first time with all of them, though to their surprise it was his first time flying as something that wasn't an insect. His first flight had been something of a panicky situation when it looked like he was going to smash headfirst into the ground but he pulled up right in the nick of time.

Raven had yelled at him for forty five minutes for scaring her to death like that.

The changeling had chuckled softly before rubbing noses with her. "Raven isn't getting rid of Gar that easily."

"I don't want to get rid of you at all." She had mumbled back before leaning her head onto his chest. He had wrapped his arms around her and told her over and over that he wasn't going anywhere until she calmed down. She made him promise to be more careful and he did just that.

It had sincerely bothered her for a while that she almost had a panic attack over his near death experience. It wasn't that she was denying her attachment to him. In fact, she was fairly open about it now, just not to the extent of accepting being his mate. The other Titans simply referred to them as boyfriend and girlfriend, which had confused the changeling greatly. She had had to explain the terms as "possible life-mates".

His response was a huge smile and nuzzling her chakra, which had left her floating around the tower giggling once again.

The sight of Cyborg being carried in the claws of flying dinosaur Garfield drew her attention from her musings. She sighed once more in frustration.

Okay, _maybe_ she was pouting.

 _Maybe_ she was bored without him around.

 _Maybe_ she was jealous that he'd spent all day with Cyborg instead of with her.

 _Maybe_ she should just go join them on the roof.

 _Maybe_ she should kis-

"Raven!"

She yelped in fright as Garfield's face suddenly appeared in front of her. Despite her surprise, she decided to play a little joke on him. Grabbing at her heart and covering her face with her cloak, she swooned to the side and fell over onto the couch.

"Raven?" Garfield asked confusedly as he poked her leg gently. When she didn't react, he poked her harder. Still nothing. He frowned. He could _literally_ hear her heart beating just fine, so what was she doing? Playing dead?

A mischievous grin found its way on his face a moment later.

He set his hand on her knee and slowly began to spider-walk it up her leg. He felt her shiver underneath his touch as he reached her thighs. His grin widening, he slowly continued upwards. When his fingers brushed her inner thighs, he heard her heart skip a beat. When his fingers crawled up her waist, she shivered again.

When his fingers reached her ribs, she abruptly sat up.

"Okay okay! Enough!" She yelled as she pulled up her hood to hide her red face.

Garfield chuckled. "Can't play possum with a possum, Raven."

She stuck her tongue out at him and was completely unprepared when he rushed up to her face. Wide eyed, she was staring at him with her tongue still out as they came nose to nose.

"Is that an invitation?" He growled softly.

"I-I-I don't know." She stammered as she looked deep into those emerald tunnels that were his eyes. She could see what he was asking for and it made her shiver in anticipation.

"Ooookaaaay you two, take it to another room!" Cyborg called out.

Raven snapped from her euphoric stupor instantly and turned to look over the couch at her chuckling teammate.

"You should have seen her a while ago, Cy, she was _pouting_!" Nightwing called out from behind his newspaper. Raven glared daggers at him as Cyborg started laughing more.

"I'm sorry Rae, I didn't mean to hog all his time" The cybernetic man grinned cheekily. "You two can go make out now, don't mind me."

Before Raven could retort, Garfield spoke up. "I don't know what making out is, but if Raven is involved I want to do it!"

You could have heard a feather drop onto a shag carpet in the silence that preceded the monumental laughter that came from Cyborg and Nightwing. Her face as red as Starfire's hair, Raven turned and tried to scold the changeling.

"Garfield! You can't just agree with anything they say!"

A sad look came across his face. "But Raven, I want to do _everything_ with you."

Raven made a face that sent her friends into borderline comas of amusement. Cyborg was now laughing so hard that he had fallen over and was rolling around on the floor. Nightwing, on the other hand, had to set his newspaper down so that he could lean on the table. Even Starfire, who had been trying to be quiet, was tittering with laughter off to the side.

"WILL YOU GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER?!" Raven roared as her eyes split into four shards of crimson rage. The shadows about her coalesced into a towering visage of herself and tendrils of dark magic slithered towards her teammates.

"But friend Raven, none of _us_ mentioned anything dirty." Starfire said gleefully. " _You_ were the one who thought something of the promiscuous manner."

"YOUR DEATHS WILL LOOK LIKE AN ACCID-" Raven's threat tapered off into a yelp as Garfield swept up from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist. Before she could understand what was happening, he had slid his arms up to tuck under her breasts and swung her around. The green teen took the purple teen over to the window and set her before it. She turned around, completely embarrassed with how he had frog-marched her over there and opened her mouth to scold him for it when he put a finger to her lips.

"Raven." He said quietly. "Don't be mad at them. Be mad at me for not understanding."

She faltered. "How am I supposed to be mad at you for that?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter _how_. But they have been your packmates for a long time now. They might be extra pressing it wrong, but they are happy that I can make you feel good."

"It's _expressing_ , Gar." She sighed. She stared off into space for a moment before nodding. "Alright, I won't kill them."

Garfield raised an eyebrow. "But…?"

Raven smiled darkly and turned her head to look at her giggling friends. The look on her face killed their laughter immediately.

"Starfire, why don't you ask Nightwing what he _really_ thinks about your cooking? And Cyborg, why don't you tell Nightwing about that little secret project hidden behind the back wall in the garage?"

"Secret project?" Her team leader snapped his head towards Cyborg, who had paled to a lovely shade of light brown. Fortunately, he was saved by the resident alien princess.

"Boyfriend Richard, what does friend Raven mean? I was of the opinion that you enjoyed my cooking…"

It was Nightwings' turn to pale as he struggled to find an answer. "I…um…It's really….let's see…oh, would you look at that? I left the security cams running, better go turn them off!"

He ran out the door without another word, followed by a confused Starfire. "But Richard, I thought we were to leave the cameras on at all times?"

Cyborg turned to Raven, an upset frown on his face. "Raven! I thought you weren't going to tell him about that?!"

"I don't like being mocked." She said flatly. "The teasing isn't so bad, but _that_ was taking it too far."

"That's because the only teasing you like comes from Tarzan over there." Cyborg muttered under his breath as he stomped out of the room.

Now that she had Garfield's attention all to herself, Raven knew _just_ what she wanted to do with him.

* * *

"No matter how many times I see it, it still weirds me out." Bumblebee shook her head.

Cyborg glanced up from the kitchen counter, where he was making a sandwich. "Why is that, Bee?"

The black girl gestured to the sight before her on the couch as she spoke quietly. "This is _Raven_ we're talking about. Excuse me if I'm not used to her snuggling a guy, not to mention having a boyfriend."

Fortunately, said empath was blissfully unaware of the conversation going on around her seeing as she was sleeping peacefully on top of the dozing Garfield. She gave a slight twitch and tried to snuggle moreso into his chest as his strong and steady heartbeat continued its rhythmatic lullaby. Her cloak was spread out on top like a blanket and Garfield had his arms wrapped around her as she slept. The look on her face was one of utmost tranquility and it made Bumblebee slightly jealous.

"Seriously." The insectile heroine pouted. "I don't remember the last time a guy held me like that."

Cyborg stopped mid bite of his sandwich and glanced at her. They had dated for a while about a year or so ago. It had been a fun relationship while it lasted and they had parted as good friends.

She felt his eyes on her back and her shoulders sagged. "Yeah, I know, Sparky."

He gave a little shrug and started chowing down again. He had come to terms with their parting, but sometimes seemed that Bumblebee hadn't. It wasn't that he didn't hurt from it, it was more that he had accepted it and used that hurt to reforge his confidence with the opposite sex from thereon out.

"I thought you and Malcolm were talking?" He asked through a mouthful of food.

"That's just it…we're _talking_." She grumbled. "I've dropped a dozen hints over the past few weeks but he just doesn't seem to be catching on."

Cyborg chuckled very quietly to himself. He knew that Malcom, better known as the Herald (the leader of Titans West), was very much interested in the black and yellow clad heroine. But Malcolm was a very laid back guy with a deep passion for romantic jazz music. He'd keep Karen (Bumblebee) on her toes for just long enough for her to get frustrated, then swoop in with some outrageously romantic date that would make her fall head over heels for him.

The tin man took a sip of his soda while contemplating. Malcolm would take good care of Karen and they would be happy together. But would they be as happy as Raven is right now?

 _Not likely._ He snorted in amusement.

Beside him, Speedy looked up from his sandwich. "Hm?"

Cyborg shook his head. "Nothing man. Anyone know when the rest of the Titans will be arriving?"

"West will be here within the hour." Nightwing called out from the other side of the room. "South will be arriving shortly afterwards and North will be here within about fifteen minutes of them."

The cybernetic man rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We should keep them out of here until they all get here, then let them meet Garfield."

Nightwing's eyebrow rose. "You just want to embarrass Raven, don't you?"

Cyborg smiled innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

* * *

"Is that… _Raven_ …snuggling a guy?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"The Ice Queen of Darkness looks so calm and relaxed right now. This is a joke, right?"

Said empath groggily opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by what appeared to be every member of the Titans group. But that was a silly thought. Why would they all be here? She blinked and rubbed her eyes as she sat up, her mussed hair swaying freely as she looked about. Something about where she slept felt funny too. Looking down, she found that she was now straddling the bare chested changeling she had become rather attached to.

"Oh my god, she really was!" Someone whispered loudly.

Her eyes widening, Raven looked around once more. Everyone really _was_ here, staring at her sitting on top of Garfield. As the implications of their position sank into her mind, she did the only thing she could think of.

She panicked.

Blushing furiously, she opened a dark portal underneath herself and the changeling and they disappeared into it. They landed unceremoniously with a thud onto her bed, which woke the changeling instantly.

"Wha-? Raven? What's wrong?" He sat up instantly and wrapped his arms around her.

"T-the other Titans are here!" She stammered. "WHY?!"

Garfield nuzzled her chakra, effectively calming her down. "It's okay Raven. You said we're all the same pack, so what's wrong with them coming to see us?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Nothing, I was just surprised."

He laughed. "You don't panic like that when _I_ surprise you!"

"That's because your surprises are a lot more pleasant." The empath mumbled. The changeling laughed.

A knock on the door drew their attention as a muffled voice spoke. "Hey Raven, Garfield, come meet everyone. Y'all can make out later!"

"Cyborg!" Raven hissed. "I'll get him for that!"

Ripping the door open with her magic, Raven found the cybernetic man hauling his metal ass down the hallway as quickly as he could. His amusement could be felt quite clearly to the empath and it made her seethe with anger.

"Azarath Metrion Zintho-oh!" Her incantation was cut off as Garfield swept up behind her once more and picked her up princess style in his arms.

"W-what are you doing?! What if someone sees us?!" She stammered. Back in her bedroom, her embarrassment shattered her bedroom window.

"Let them look!" Garfield grinned. "I got the bestest girlfriend on the entire universe!"

She was so embarrassed that she couldn't even correct him. Instead, she wiggled from his arms and took him by the hand. Even though he was smiling like a fox in a henhouse, she had to repeat her mantra in her head to stop her powers from going haywire.

It was ridiculous, really. She hadn't had this kind of problem keeping herself under control when she dated Robin and most certainly hadn't had this kind of problem with Malchior. But Garfield brought out this raw feeling in her, this desire for his attention that was so powerful that she didn't give the slightest damn what happened with her powers.

All she wanted was this wonderful feeling he made her feel.

They made their way to the common room quickly and quietly. On the other side of the door she could feel the score or so members of the Titans group. It felt like everyone was there, even from the farthest branches of their little family.

A tugging sensation on her hand made her look back into the eyes of a very upset Garfield.

"What's wrong?" She asked instantly.

"Something…feels… _wrong_ in there." He shivered. "Like…a sickness…but it feels like Star's starbolts too…"

"It feels wrong but feels like Starfire's starbolts?" Raven repeated to herself as she thought. "So, what, you can feel someone's energy?"

Garfield gave a little shrug. "I don't know. It just doesn't feel right. I don't want to go in there and I don't want you going in there either."

She thought about it for a moment. "Gar, I'll be fine going in there. Just give me a minute to see about what you're feeling and see if I can make it go away. Okay?"

She sensed his extreme reluctance as he released her hand. Before she turned away, however, he leaned forward and nuzzled her chakra.

"Come back, okay?"

Her heart aching with his concern for her well-being, she nodded and proceeded through the door. Every head in the room instantly turned towards her, many grins painted on faces like graffiti on a wall.

She held up her hands. "Before anyone jumps on the hype train, I need to know who has energy-based powers that can be confused with sicknesses."

"That's…a weird thing to ask." Killowatt called out. She glanced at the electrical man.

"That it is, but it's bother him quite badly. He refuses to come into the room."

Aqualad gestured to the assembled people. "The only ones I know of that are really energy based are Argent, Starfire, and Cyborg."

"That is not true." A voice with a thick accent called out. Many people parted and a tall, powerfully built foreign man stepped forward.

"I believe I am responsible for your…companions discomfort." He said after an awkward pause.

"Red Star! Of course, radiation sickness!" Raven almost slapped her forehead, having cleanly forgotten he was attending. "Can you do something about lowering your passive power output?"

He nodded immediately. "Of course."

Within seconds he had done so and almost immediately afterwards Garfield poked his head through the door.

"Raven!" He called out.

"I'm here, Gar!" She called back. "It's safe now, come on in."

He strode through the door and made a beeline straight for the empath. Despite the fact that he could hear people whispering about his green skin and heavily scarred body (he was wearing a white tanktop and khaki shorts), he only had eyes for the violet haired girl before him. He didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her waist when he got to her.

"Raven safe?" He asked as he leaned down to inspect her.

"Of course, Gar. These are my friends, they wouldn't hurt me." Raven responded, surprising him with a nose rub. She could feel the shock of her teammates washing over her, but she didn't care.

Garfield let out a sigh and pressed his forehead to her chakra. "Good, I was worried."

She couldn't stop herself from smiling at him (eliciting another shocked reaction from her friends). "It's okay, Gar. Really. Now let me introduce to you."

Within minutes, Garfield was introduced to Red Star (who apologized profusely for upsetting the shapeshifter) and his team, Titans North, which consisted of Kole (a pink haired girl who could turn into diamonds), Gnark (an ancient caveman with superhuman strength and durability), Jericho (a guy who could possess people by locking eyes with them), and Argent (a girl with an energy based power that was used to create constructs of said energy). Next up was Titans South, which was led by Hot Shot (who flinched as they shook hands), Pantha (a super strong and super durable woman from Mexico), Wildebeest (an animal-human hybrid native of Africa), Sandstorm (a very polite young woman from Egypt with sand manipulating powers), and Killowatt (an electric man).

Titans East Garfield had already been introduced to, though Aqualad greeted him in a much friendlier (and slightly subservient) manner. Of Titans West, he knew the Herald (a dark skinned man with a magical horn), then met Bushido (a silent foreign man with impeccable swordsmanship), Kid Flash (a young man with _insane_ speed), and Wonder Girl (who was some sort of warrior from a tribe hidden on an island somewhere).

After that he was introduced to some of the members of the farther branches and affiliates of the Titans group. Titans Europe consisted of a white haired girl called Ravager (an ex assassin), a red skinned man called Kid Devil (who smelled of sulfur and fire, much to the changelings dislike), a strangely armored man with a strange accent called Blue Beetle (he had quite a strange lump on his back that spoke to him), and a tall and well-dressed young man in blue named Captain Marvel Junior (what the junior part meant, Gar would never know).

In addition to them, he met quite a few others who were 'part-timers' as Raven called them. There was Static (a dark skinned electric man that Gar instantly took a liking to), a foreign man named Bunker (who could create energy constructs and smelled strongly of other males), a tall and powerfully built young man named Superboy (who was, as Cyborg said, "a freaking tank made flesh"), Superboy's _green shapeshifting_ girlfriend Miss Martian (Garfield was ecstatic about meeting someone that was like him up until the point where they explained she was from another planet where this was natural to her; he still liked her anyways), Bat Girl (whom strongly reminded Gar of Nightwing for some reason), a young man named Red Robin (again, someone who reminded Gar of Nightwing; perhaps they were related?), Thunder and Lightning (two brothers who had the power of their elements and loved pranks), a young blonde woman with a bow and arrow who introduced herself as Artemis (she smelled like she was Kid Flashs' mate), a man wearing red and white named Hawk (who was described as super strong and durable like Superboy), a woman named Dove (who apparently had some sort of light based powers along with being like Hawk), and a dark skinned man that smelled similar to Aqualad (He named himself Kaldur'ahm and stated that he was Atlantean like Aqualad).

"So many packmates!" Garfield said, holding his dizzy head as he dropped onto the couch next to Raven. The empath immediately held a glowing blue hand up to his temple and focused. The ache in his skull disappeared after a moment, making him smile at her and rub noses once more. "Thank you Raven."

Blushing, she returned his gesture and leaned into his side. She looked around the room, noting the surprised looks on everyone's faces. Casting her eyes away from them, she spoke. "What?"

"I'm sorry, Raven, it's just…unusual to see you…like this." This came from Captain Marvel Junior, who was rubbing his chin.

"Yeah, I totally wasn't expecting to see you all snuggled up to a guy." Static joked from the other side of the room. Raven glared at him.

"Are you implying that I'm incapable of feeling affection for someone?"

Static shook his head and held his hands up in surrender. "No! No no no no no! I'm just saying that…well…um…"

"Yer kind of an unapproachable hardass, Raven." Ravager called out from Kid Devil's lap, where she was comfortably reclining.

"Oh, shut it Rose." Raven huffed. "You're still mad that I turned you down."

The sword wielding heroine shrugged. "Your loss. We could have had _fun._ "

On the other side of her, Blue Beetle nudged Red Robin. "Pay up, amigo, she's not lesbo."

The red suited young man scowled and pulled out his wallet. On the other side of him Kaldur'ahm spoke up. "I believe what they are trying to say is that, while we are all happy to see you so jubilant, it is a tad…shocking."

Raven huffed once more. "I'm not the unfeeling harpy everyone seems to think I am."

"Woah, Raven, no one ever said or thought that!" Superboy called out from the kitchen. "I mean, I know I called you that once, but I apologized and meant it."

After a moment of thought, the empath nodded. "I know, Connor. Thank you."

"You said he's like an animal, right?" Kid Flash popped up in front of the changeling. "So that means he's got animal reflexes, right? How fast is he?"

"I like to think I'm quick." Garfield grinned at the speedster before hopping up. Kid Flash flashed him a grin and began racing around the changeling. Gar's eyes got really distant for a moment before his hand snapped out.

Kid Flash raced away, laughing. "Good luck with that! Nobody here can catch me!"

"I don't think I can catch you, but I almost can." Gar grinned as he held up something. Kid Flash peered at it before gasping and reaching up to the ear piece of his mask. The changeling had ripped off one of the lightning bolts of his costume!

"How what who why HOW?!" The speedster sputtered.

His grin widening, Garfield tossed the piece to its owner. "I watch TV when Raven isn't around. This cool show called Animal Planet told me that there are flies that react at speeds of something called millipede seconds. Since I can turn _into_ that fly, I figured I could move as fast as it too!"

"Its _milliseconds_ , Gar." Raven chided him softly.

The changeling nodded. "Milliseconds, right. I'm sorry Raven."

She waved her hand at him. "It's fine Gar. I know you're still learning English."

"Tio verde here doesn't speak too well, huh?" Bunker said as he got up and approached the shapeshifter. He leaned against Garfields' shoulder nonchalantly. "I could _teach_ him a few things, eh?"

Raven frowned. "Miguel, don't even _think_ of hitting on him."

"What is hitting on?" Gar asked, his face screwing up in confusion.

"That means he finds you attractive!" Kid Devil laughed, as did several other Titans.

"He does?" Gar looked at Bunker. "But shouldn't you be looking for a female as a mate?"

Bunker paused and shook his head. "I…uh…like guys."

"You look for males as mates?" Gar asked, wide eyed. "Why?"

The Latino hero gave him a little shrug. "It's just who I am, tio verde. I like guys."

Garfield tilted his head in thought as he looked at the strange male before him. He gave it several minutes thought before he shrugged. "Okay."

Bunker stared at him. "That's it? Just okay? You're not going to make fun of me or ask me all sorts of weird questions?"

"Why would I?"

The open honesty the changeling's face left the homosexual hero speechless. A large number of people shunned him for his sexual preferences and just as many harassed him about it. But this weird guy in front of him was completely and totally accepting it as if it were nothing.

"Look, someone actually shut Bunker up." Cyborg snorted and nudged Nightwing. There were multiple snickers and some chuckling going on as the Latino quietly made his way back to his seat next to Static. Garfield, unphased, hopped back on the couch next to Raven. The empath was smiling as she leaned into his arm as it propped up onto the head of the couch behind her.

"So, Mowghli, why don't you tell us about living in the jungle?" Speedy asked from his seat next to Artemis. Something about the way both of them used bows for weapons made Gar think of them as hunters. Despite this, he nodded eagerly and launched into a story about how he had tracked down a group of strange men in the jungle one day.

As he set about giving them a detailed description of how he stalked them through the underbrush, something drew his attention. It was a very quiet sound, almost unhearable beneath the chatter of the Titans surrounding him.

 _Garfield, if you can hear and understand me, I want you to twitch your left ear._

The changeling twitched his left ear, wondering what Cyborg wanted.

 _Good. Now, I want you to listen very carefully…_

* * *

Some time later, most of the Titans sat there staring at the animorph in awe.

"Garfield…just how many people have you killed?" Static asked, his voice shaking.

Gar tilted his head to the side in thought. "I dunno…a lot? Why, is it a bad thing?"

Nightwing spoke up. "As you were…I suppose it wasn't at the time. But as you are now, here with us, we don't kill."

The changeling nodded. "Raven told me. I don't agree with it, but I understand."

"You don't agree with it? Why not?" Kaldur'ahm asked as he leaned forward and propped his head up on one hand.

"Well, in the jungle it's eat or be eaten. When it comes to territory, the strongest pack survives and the weakest dies." Garfield shrugged. "I don't see why it has to be different out here, but I understand that it is that way. I will do as the packleader says and not kill anyone."

"Thankfully." Aqualad muttered. Garfield heard him and shot him a mischievous smile.

"What's that, Aqualad? Would you like to challenge me again?"

"NO!" Aqualad shouted before jumping up from his seat and hiding behind Superboy. This action elicited many raised eyebrows and questioning looks from the assembled Titans. They all knew Aqualad was no pushover and he was most certainly one of the strongest Titans. To see him run from a new guy…this was unprecedented.

Raven chose this moment to swat Garfield on the arm. "Stop scaring him!"

The changeling laughed. "I apopolgize Raven."

She let out a little sigh. "It's _apologize_ , Gar."

He grinned. "I'm sorry, Raven. Thank you for helping me, I don't know what I'd do without you."

The empath tugged her hood up to hide her blush and she tried to sink deeper into his embrace to hide herself from her smirking comrades.

"Hey Raven, make him say it!" Cyborg said gleefully.

"Say what?" Several voices said at the same time.

Rolling her eyes, Raven looked up at her boyfriend. "Garfield…say cinnamon."

"Cimanon."

" _Cinnamon."_

"Cimanon!" His face screwed up in irritation. "Cinmanon! Cimomanon! Cinanom! Cimanonamon!"

As the sounds of laughter filled the air around them, Raven suppressed her own grin at the struggling changeling. "Say it with me, Gar. Sin…"

"Sin…"

"Ah…"

"Ah…"

"Mon!"

"Mon!"

"Cinnamon!"

"Synonym!" Garfield blinked several times as the laughter increased to a dull roar around him. Frustrated, he slapped a hand over his face. "Damnit! Why can't I say it?!"

Raven buried her face in the crook of his arm to stifle her own laughter as he furiously began attempting to repeat the word once more. This continued for a solid five minutes before the irate changeling had had enough of embarrassing himself and refused to talk anymore.

Raven wiped a mirthful tear away from her eye and looked up at him. "Come on, Garfield, it isn't that bad."

"You're just gonna make fun of me again." He pouted. The look on his face was _priceless_ at this moment and it was ripping the empath apart on the inside to look at him.

On one hand, she wanted to wrap her arms around his head and kiss it until he understood she was sorry for laughing at him. On the other hand, she wanted to tease him like he always teased her when she was embarrassed.

"Don't worry, Garfield, ol' buddy. Even if you can't say cinnamon, there's all kinds of neat things you can do!" Cyborg snickered. A warning flag shot up in Raven's mind as his emotional spectrum bottomed out in mischievousness. She glanced at him just in time to see him tap two fingers to his head, then his nose, then his lips as he stared at the changeling in her embrace.

"What? You want me to do that now?" Gar asked, causing Raven to snap her head in his direction.

"A-yup." Cyborg grinned.

"Well okay…"

Raven glared at the changeling. "Garfield, what did he put you up to?"

Garfield looked down at her with a grin. "He taught me a neat joke! Knock knock!"

There were several groans, one of which came from Raven. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Knock knock!" He repeated.

She sighed. "Who's there?"

"Surprise!"

"Surprise who?"

Garfield locked eyes with her and it made her shiver as he spoke. "Surprise you."

Before she could utter so much as a single syllable, he leaned in and kissed her right on the chakra.

Her reaction was immediate as a shockwave of magic pulsated from her body. It rippled outward and over everything in the room, but nothing seemed to happen. Raven herself, however, has lost all the breath in her body. Her eyes were dilated to the extreme and she didn't seemed to be breathing at all.

This didn't stop Garfield from kissing her on the nose, then leaning down to softly kiss her on the lips.

The sound of something shattering filled the air as another shockwave came and this one _definitely_ had effects. Everything that wasn't nailed down began to freely float upwards into the air, much to everyone's surprise. The hero's themselves floated as well, drifting through the air as they clamored to return to their floating seats. Chairs, couches, cups, food, plates, knives, forks, pencils, cell phones, a hairbrush, a pair of shoes, a single glove, and all manner of loose change filled the air in the spaces between the Titans as they struggled with the new lack of gravity.

The only one who wasn't affected was a scowling Cyborg and that was because he weighed so much.

Raven, however, had leaned into Garfields' kiss for as long as the contact remained. When he pulled away, she too floated up in the air. But instead of panicking, she slowly pulled her knees up in a fetal position while covering her mouth. She drifted through the air silently, occasionally bumping into a stray chair or another hero.

"Friend Raven!" Starfire called out as she flew to her friend. Bumblebee was close on her heels.

Raven slowly turned her head to look at her concerned friends. When she finally spoke, it was in a very soft and un-Raven-like voice. "He…he kissed me."

Bumblebee traded glances with Starfire before she flew close enough to take Raven by the shoulder. "Uh, yeah, we saw that. It was really sweet."

Raven shook her head. "No…you don't understand…he kissed _me!_ "

Unbeknownst to her, her cloaked began to change colors until it was a bright pink. Seeing her friends confused expressions, the empath continued. " _Me!_ He kissed _me!_ He likes _me!_ _Me_ , not someone else! Not you, not Star, not Argent, not anyone else here! He kissed _me!_ "

The excitement was evident in her voice as it escalated several octaves, which no one was aware it could do.

" _Me!_ " She repeated. "He wants _me!_ He's always so excited to see me, so calm when I need to relax, so understanding even if he doesn't understand, so patient, so attentive, so sweet…he wants _me!_ "

She started giggling in a very un-Raven-like mannerism as she floated lazily through the air, paying no attention to the things she bumped into. Feeling concerned for their friends' mental stability, the girls approached her once again.

"Look, Raven, that's good and all but…"

Raven looked up at her from her upside down position in the air. "You still don't understand. He wants _me_ …me, the creepy goth girl…me, the one everyone is afraid of…me, the demon spawn…me…the one nobody wants to be around…"

Her cloak went from bright pink to a dull gray now as the light in her eyes faded.

"Me…the one that's always alone…"

This rapid shift in moods sent up warning flags in the mind of many Titans. They all knew when Raven's powers went berserk that whole buildings could be wiped out in seconds. As the sorrow in her voice escalated, tendrils of her dark magic could be seen creeping up the walls and engulfing entire pieces of furniture. They needed to calm her down, _fast._

Fortunately, there was a quick and easy solution to that.

And its name was Garfield.

Seemingly unphased by the floating effect, he came up from Raven's side and once again scooped her up in his arms. She gave a little gasp of surprise as he did so and looked up at his softly smiling face.

"Raven, you're not as alone as you think you are." He kissed her chakra. "And as long as I'm here, you'll _never_ be alone."

Raven began to blush deeply as she lay her head against his chest. Curiously enough, her cloak went from gray to a deep and rich purple as she shyly looked up at Garfield.

"C-can…can I have another kiss?"

"You don't have to ask for that, Raven." He said softly. "Get one whenever you want it."

She gave him a little nod before leaning up for her second kiss. As they made contact, the empath felt the passion and love for her radiating from his body like rays from the sun. It set her mind, body, and soul on fire with an overwhelming urge to just stay there in his arms for eternity, forever locked in his embrace. She felt herself reach up and wrap her arms around his neck and pull him closer to deepen their kiss.

When she _finally_ pulled away from him, it was only because her lungs were screaming for oxygen. She lay her head against his chest and listening to the steady beating of his heart for a moment before speaking.

"Gar…did you mean what you said about not leaving me alone?" She murmured.

His reply was instantaneous. "Of course."

She buried her face in his chest to hide her tears and spoke very, very softly. "Then…I want to be your mate."

* * *

Down on the floor, Cyborg grinned as he watched the floating lovers. "Welcome to the family, Garfield."

* * *

 _ **The feels on the bus go 'round and 'round...  
**_


End file.
